Onondaga County lawmaker who said he wouldn't run again is considering a third-party bid

Syracuse, NY -- Onondaga County Legislator Robert Warner is thinking about jumping back into a potentially crowded race for the seat he has held for nearly 22 years. Warner said this week he may run on the Conservative Party ballot line for an 11th full term as the District 13 representative.

Two weeks ago, the Van Buren Republican announced he was dropping his re-election bid, because it did not look like he was going to get the county Republican Committee’s endorsement.

Committee members blamed him — wrongly, in Warner’s opinion — for sharp increases in county property taxes this year in the district.

Last week, the Republican Committee gave its endorsement to Van Buren Town Councilor Derek Shepard over Elbridge Town Supervisor Ken Bush Jr. and former Camillus Town Councilor Dan Stanistreet.

The county Democratic Committee had previously endorsed Jim Scaramuzzino, of Van Buren, for the seat.

Warner said he is not going to challenge Shepard in a Republican primary, because he doesn’t want to disrupt his party. But he said he has been receiving emails and phone calls from supporters urging him to run on the Conservative Party line. “I’ve got a lot of encouragement from people to stay on the Conservative line,” he said.

The county Conservative Party’s executive committee gave Warner its endorsement in April. All he has to do to get on the ballot is sign a form by July 18 accepting the party’s endorsement.

Bush and Stanistreet say they are considering a Republican primary challenge against Shepard. They could do so by each gathering 339 signatures on a petition by July 14. Shepard said a campaign by Warner on the Conservative Party line and a primary by Bush or Stanistreet, or both, would only serve to split the Republican Party.

Tom Dadey, county Republican Party chairman, said he, too, is hoping Warner, Bush and Stanistreet stay out of the race for the sake of party unity.

One person who is hoping for just the opposite is Scaramuzzino, who lost to Warner in 2009. He said a split in the Republican ranks would be a good thing for his campaign, especially given the strong voter enrollment advantage that Republicans have over Democrats in District 13, which consists of Camillus, Elbridge and Van Buren.

No third-party candidate has ever won a seat in the county Legislature without a cross-endorsement from a major party. But, having held the District 13 seat since 1991 as a Republican, Warner would not be your typical third-party candidate.

“When you have a 22-year incumbent, you can’t take him lightly,” Scaramuzzino said.